On to the next group:
| 41 | Roberto Clemente | RF 5 | George Brett | 3B 3 |
| 42 | George Brett | 3B 3 | Roberto Clemente | RF 5 |
| 43 | Pedro Martinez | P 11 | Joe DiMaggio | CF 5 |
| 44 | Gaylord Perry | P 12 | Carlton Fisk | C 3 |
| 45 | Steve Carlton | P 13 | Bob Gibson | P 12 |
| 46 | Carlton Fisk | C 3 | Gary Carter | C 4 |
| 47 | Christy Mathewson | P 14 | Ivan Rodriguez | C 5 |
| 48 | Al Kaline | RF 6 | Christy Mathewson | P 13 |
| 49 | Ivan Rodriguez | C 4 | Phil Niekro | P 14 |
| 50 | Jackie Robinson | 2B 5 | Robin Yount | SS 4 |
I forgot to mention in the last writeup that Joe DiMaggio moved up from 43rd to 35th. I don’t know if I have DiMaggio rated high enough, but he is closer now. Everyone here is a great player. In fact, Jackie Robinson moved to 50th which is now my inner circle limit. The inner circle limit was 1,000 but it is now 1,111 which happens to be my favorite number. I did give Jackie two extra points to get there but he didn’t pass anyone.
That would mean 5 players would no longer be in the inner circle. While I won’t drop anyone out of my Hall of Fame with the new formula I decided that 50 is a better number then 55 for the inner circle and 1,111 make a good total for getting into the circle. Also, it is actually 6 players because there is a new player in the inner circle who wasn’t there before, Pedro Martinez. Martinez moved from 58 just outside the group to 43rd.
Baseball Reference WAR really loves Martinez. He is the only pitcher who has retired that I remember who has negative loses when I calculated wins and losses in WAR. That means he had a win-loss percentage of over 1.000 which gave him a lot more points in the new formula. He didn’t quite make the top pitchers, but people forget how great Bob Gibson pitched in 1968 and other years around it.
The six who didn’t make the inner circle with their new rank are:
51. Gary Carter – Not only did Ivan Rodriquez pass him pushing Carter back to 5th he is the first player to miss the inner circle. He was in 46th place before. I gave catchers a break, but they were pushed back a bit with this formula. However, I wouldn’t have thought my new formula would hurt Carter.
52. Reggie Jackson – He actually traded places with Wade Boggs, so he moved up one spot. Both Jackson and Boggs are borderline inner circle players. They could go on either side of the line, but I’m tougher this time. Jackson didn’t do as well in the clutch as I thought he would. Also, I didn’t include post season clutch, which keeps Jackson on the outside.
53. Wade Boggs – Besides my discussion in Jackson, Boggs didn’t do well in clutch. It could be leadoff hitters are hurt in the category, but it shouldn’t be that much.
55. Robin Yount – Again another border line player. If he would have stayed at shortstop longer, he probably would be inner circle. He fell from 51st place.
58. Phil Niekro – I had Niekro go from 49th to 58th. He also went 14th to 18th as a pitcher. He had a lot of longevity which is now less important when compared to peak. Niekro isn’t too strong with peak. I fell a lot more comfortable with Niekro’s rating now.
59. Derek Jeter – I forced Jeter up a little due the time before due to his leadership abilities. I think I have him better now. He went down only five spots and is ranked the same at shortstop.
Al Kaline moved from 51st to 48th and stayed in the inner circle.
